


The Mural

by lyryk (s_k)



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-21
Updated: 2009-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:03:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1742459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_k/pseuds/lyryk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally written for prompt #231 at <a href="http://slashthedrabble.livejournal.com">slashthedrabble</a>, "no happily ever after".</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mural

Their favourite meeting-place is a cave several miles along the coast from Port Royal, overlooking a cove that is a perfect harbour for the _Pearl_. Just inside the mouth of their nest is a large, flat wall of rock on which they've been painting their mural. Sunlight streams into the cave by day; when night falls, they light a fire outside that throws their shadows on the wall. They make love to each other countless times against the wall, their hands against the wet paint, the imprints becoming part of the endeavour that no one else will ever see.

They'd started sketching on the wall one sleepless night, and haven't stopped since. The mural began as a mirror of the sea that the cliff overlooks. Now there are several additions to it: an inky black sky over the ocean, studded with stars and a full moon, and their ships alongside each other in the cove. The _Pearl_ was drawn by James's hand, and the _Dauntless_ by Jack’s. At the centre of the drawing where the skyline meets the ocean is the _Interceptor_ , painted with exquisite precision by Jack, her shadow floating on the waves as she sails.

Occasionally, James goes to the cave alone to add something to the mural, or just to find solitude. Sometimes he finds that Jack has been there in his absence and added something new. It's comforting to find small traces of Jack's having been there: a new constellation painted into the sky, or simply evidence of a recent fire having been lit. The mural has become a way for them to speak to each other, to leave messages in pictures, affirming something too elusive to name: something that binds them to each other, something that can't be shaped into words.

Each meeting brings them closer, their stories beginning to merge. James doesn't seek a happy ending; he doesn't believe their story will end. One night Jack makes a living mural out of James, stroking James's bare skin with his brush, gliding its wet tip along his skin with feather-light touches, taking James to the edge of oblivion, every stroke adding a new sentence to their story. James arches his back and a water-nymph gazes at him from the wall, fins outspread in perpetual delight.


End file.
